Face recognition accuracy as a function of mode of representation.

The relative effectiveness of line drawings and photographs as ways of representing information in face reconstruction systems was compared in 2 experiments. In Exp I, 3 independent groups of college students (27 in each group) were required to identify well-known faces shown either as photographs, detailed line drawings, or outline drawings. Photographs were significantly more effective as stimuli than line drawings, which in turn were superior to outlines. In Exp II, 80 Ss aged 16–60 yrs recruited from the public participated in a recognition task. Photographs and detailed line drawings of previously unknown faces served as stimuli. Ss recognized photographs significantly more accurately than line drawings, even when the pose of the target was changed between the exposure and test series. Results are discussed in terms of the development of computer-based face reconstruction systems and theories of face recognition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

How is emergent writing based on drawing? Analyses of children's products and their sorting by children and mothers.

Writing and drawing produced by children 28-53 months old were compared. Israeli and Dutch preschoolers were asked to draw and write, to classify their products as drawing and writing, and to decide what they had drawn or written. Israeli and Dutch mothers classified the products. Scores on a scale for writing composed of graphic, "writing-like," and symbolic schemes showed improvement with age. Recognition of drawings as drawings preceded recognition of writings as writings. Scores on writing and drawing were substantially correlated, even with age partialed out, suggesting (a) that when children start drawing objects referentially, they write by drawing "print" and (b) that progress in object drawing involves progress in drawing print, so that their writing becomes more writing-like. Children unable to communicate meaning by writing spontaneously resort to drawing-like devices, indicating the primacy of drawing as a representational-communicative system. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Preschoolers' attention to and memory for attachment-relevant information

This study examined the relation between attachment quality in infancy and attention and memory at 3 1/2 years. Sixty-eight children participated in 2 attention tasks and 1 memory task. In the first attention task, children were shown several sets of drawings; each set depicted a different mother-child dyad engaged in positive, negative, and neutral interaction. Insecure/avoidant children looked away from the drawings more than the other children. In the second attention task, children were shown different sets of drawings; each set depicted a mother-child dyad engaged in positive interaction and an adult dyad expressing neutral affect. Insecure/avoidant and insecure/ambivalent children looked away from the mother-child drawings more than the secure children; when children did look at a drawing, insecure children were less likely than secure children to look at the mother-child drawing. In the memory task, children were read 6 stories in which a mother responds to her child's bid for help. In 2 stories the mother responds sensitively to her child, in 2 stories the mother rejects her child, and in 2 stories the mother provides an exaggerated response to her child. Secure children recalled the responsive stories better than insecure/avoidant children and the rejecting stories better than the insecure/ambivalent children. Findings are discussed in terms of the proposition from attachment theory that attachment experiences influence attention and memory processes.     

Art students who cannot draw: Exploring the relations between drawing ability, visual memory, accuracy of copying, and dyslexia.

Some art students, despite being at art school, cannot draw very well, and would like to be able to draw well. It has been suggested that poor drawing may be a particular problem for students with dyslexia (and a high proportion of art school students is dyslexic). In Study 1 we studied 277 art students, using a questionnaire to assess self-perceived drawing ability and a range of background measures, including demography, education, a history of dyslexia, a self-administered spelling test, and personality and educational variables. In Study 2 we gave detailed drawing tests to a sample of 38 of the art students, stratified by self-rated drawing ability and spelling ability, and to 30 control participants. Students perceiving themselves as good at drawing did indeed draw better than self-perceived poor drawers, although the latter were still better than non-art student controls. In neither Study 1 nor Study 2 did skill at drawing relate to dyslexia or spelling ability, and neither did drawing ability relate to any of our wide range of background measures. However Study 2 did show that drawing ability was related both to ability at copying simple angles and proportions (using the “house” task of Cain, 1943), and also to visual memory (as suggested by Jones, 1922), poor drawers being less good at both immediate and delayed recall of the Rey-Osterrieth complex figure. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's memory for drawings based on a false belief.

In 3 studies, preschool children drew or saw another person draw what they wrongly thought were the contents of a box, saw the true contents, and then were asked what had been drawn and what they (or the other person) had thought was in the box. Children were more accurate at recalling drawings than beliefs. Belief judgments were no more accurate than in a control task with no drawing. Both the drawings and the initial belief represented falsely the contents of the box, yet children had much more difficulty with beliefs than with drawings and did not use their more accurate recall of drawings to help recall beliefs. These results are contrary both to the view that children have a general representational deficit and to the view that having a physical counterpart to belief helps children overcome a reality bias. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Coexisting psoriatic arthritis, gout, and chondrocalcinosis

BACKGROUND: Constructional impairment following left vs. right hemisphere damage has been extensively studied drawing tasks. A confounding factor in these studies is that right-handed patients with left hemisphere damage (LHD) are often forced by weakness to use their non-dominant (left) hand or hemiparetic dominant hand. Qualitative differences in the drawing characteristics of left and right hand drawings by normal subjects have not previously been characterized. The present study was undertaken to determine the qualitative differences between left and right hand drawings of normal subjects. METHODS: Thirty right-handed, elderly subjects without a history of neurological disease were asked to draw, from memory, seven objects using the right and left hand. Half of the subjects were randomly assigned to draw with the left hand first, and half the right hand first. Right and left hand drawings were compared using a standardized scoring system utilized in several previous studies of drawing in focal and diffuse neurological disease. Each drawing was scored on eighteen criteria. Right and left hand drawing scores were then compared using the t-test for paired samples or the Wilcoxon matched-pairs test. RESULTS: Drawings made using the left hand were found to be significantly simpler, more tremulous and of poorer overall quality than drawings made by the same subjects using the right hand. CONCLUSIONS: The deficits found in left versus right hand drawings of normals are similar to those found in patients with LHD, suggesting that much of the drawing impairment seen following LDH is due to an elementary motor disturbance related to use of the non-dominant hand.     

Coproduction of Regan isoenzyme and carcinoembryonic antigen in HCT-8 cells

Five groups of adult Ss were submitted to free-recall learning of 24 objects presented as written nouns for the control group and as pictures for experimental groups, as follows: schematic black and white, schematic colored, detailed black and white, and detailed colored drawings. Pictures were better recalled than nouns. Recall was significantly inferior for schematic black and white than for detailed colored drawings, with schematic colored and detailed black and white drawings at an intermediate level. These results support the so-called incidental-cues hypothesis according to which the best recall of pictures in comparison with that of nouns is partially the result of pictures having more distinctive cues likely to be encoded than do verbal items.     

Effects of picture size and placement on memory for written words

A study investigating the effects of varying size and position of line drawings in combination with written words was conducted with kindergarten students. Subjects were shown written words under four conditions that represented various size and position relationships between line drawings and orthography. After 4 consecutive days of exposure in an incidental learning task, both identification and recognition measures were obtained. Results showed superior performance for word-only and enhanced-word conditions, over those in which small and large line drawings were paired with written words, supporting similar research findings conducted with reading tasks. Implications are drawn for application to individuals with little or no functional speech who use graphic symbols for expressive communication.     

Scheme and schema in children's memory of their own drawings.

4 groups of 78 6-yr-old children made drawings of 6 themes. One month later new drawings of the same themes were made by the same Ss under 4 conditions: free drawing, memory of the 1st drawing, making a copy of the 1st drawing, making a drawing that appeared different from the 1st one. A week later the Ss were tested for recognition of their own drawings and identification as to when they had been drawn. Recognition of 2nd-session drawings was about equal among the 4 conditions, even though order identification varied significantly and adults found perceptual matches of drawings from the same S much easier with the copy than with the different condition. Results support Piaget's scheme-schema memory distinction in that a basic operative scheme lies behind alternative figural representations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The development of drawing in children with congenital focal brain injury: evidence for limited functional recovery

Children with pre- or perinatal injury to right hemisphere (RH) brain regions show impairment of spatial integrative functions similar to that observed among adults with comparable injury. Unlike adults, children show considerable improvement with development on a range of spatial construction tasks which require spatial integration. Such gains could reflect true recovery of spatial integrative abilities. Alternatively, the improvement could be more limited in scope, reflecting the development of compensatory strategies which are task specific and allow the children to circumvent, rather than overcome, their primary spatial disorders. The studies presented here examined this distinction within the context of drawing tasks in which the child was first asked to draw a house and then an impossible house. The impossible house task was designed to examine the extent to which children rely on graphic formulas in generating organized drawings. The results showed that while all of the children with RH injury make considerable progress in free drawing into the school age period, they are very reliant on the use of graphic formulas. When given a task which requires them to alter their drawings, they did not change the spatial configuration of the depicted object. Rather they found alternate ways to render the object 'impossible'.     

Individualizing a web-based structure strategy intervention for fifth graders' comprehension of nonfiction.

In the study, we investigated effects of 2 different versions of a web-based tutoring system to provide 5th-grade students with strategy instruction about text structure, which was an intervention to improve reading comprehension. The design feature assessed varied in individualization of instruction (individualized or standard). The more individually tailored version was developed to provide remediation or enrichment lessons matched to the individual needs of each student. Stratified random assignment was used to compare the effects of 2 versions of the 6-month web-based intervention. Students in the individualized condition made greater improvements from pretest to posttest on a standardized reading comprehension test (d = 0.55) than did students in the standard condition (d = 0.30). Students receiving more individualized instruction demonstrated higher mastery achievement goals when working in the lessons than did students receiving the standard instruction (d = 0.53). Students receiving more individualized instruction showed greater improvement in using signaling, better work in lessons, and more positive posttest attitudes toward computers than did students receiving standard instruction. Students in both conditions improved their recall of ideas from texts and their use of the text structure strategy and comparison signaling words. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of reading purpose and working memory capacity on the processing of expository text.

The extent to which low- and high-WMC (working memory capacity) readers adjust cognitive processes to fit the reading purpose was examined. Participants performed a verbal protocol task as they read an expository text under 1 of 2 reading purpose conditions, entertainment or study, and then completed a free-recall task. When reading to study, low-WMC readers emphasized less demanding processes over more demanding processes to a greater extent than high-WMC readers and recalled less. When reading for entertainment, patterns of processes and recall were similar across readers. Thus, all readers adjusted processing to fit the reading purpose; however, when reading for study, low-WMC readers emphasized processes that were the least demanding on their resources but not necessarily beneficial for recall. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Drawing as a generative activity and drawing as a prognostic activity.

In this study, 9th-grade students (N = 196) with a mean age of 14.7 years read a scientific text explaining the chemical process of doing laundry with soap and water and then took 3 tests. Students who were instructed to generate drawings during learning scored higher than students who only read on subsequent tests of transfer (d = 0.91), retention (d = 0.87), and drawing (d = 2.00). For students who were instructed to generate drawings during learning, those who generated high-accuracy drawings (according to a median split) scored higher than students who generated low-accuracy drawings on subsequent tests of transfer (d = 0.99), retention (d = 0.79), and drawing (d = 1.87); furthermore, drawing-accuracy scores during learning correlated with learning-outcome scores on transfer (r = .57), retention (r = .50), and drawing (r = .82). Results suggest that drawing can serve as a generative activity and as a prognostic activity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Direct teaching, strategy instruction, and strategy instruction with explicit self-regulation: Effects on the composition skills and self-efficacy of students with learning disabilities.

Extends previous research on components of effective strategy instruction operationalized in an approach referred to as self-regulated strategy development (SRSD). Comparisons were made among learning-disabled students in 4 conditions (SRSD, SRSD without goal setting and self-monitoring, direct teaching, and practice control) at posttest, generalization, and 2 maintenance probes. Normally achieving (NA) peers constituted a social validation condition. Full SRSD resulted in significantly greater schematic structure scores at generalization as compared with the other instructional conditions. At posttest, both SRSD conditions resulted in significantly greater schematic structure scores as compared with the practice control condition. Comparisons with NA peers indicated that all instructional conditions had a meaningful effect. No differences among conditions were found for self-efficacy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Episodic memory and episodic future thinking in adults with autism.

The ability to remember past experiences (episodic memory) is thought to be related to the ability to imagine possible future experiences (episodic future thinking). Although previous research has established that individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have diminished episodic memory, episodic future thinking has not previously been investigated within this population. In the present study, high-functioning adults with ASD were compared to closely matched typical adults on a task requiring participants to report a series of events that happened to them in the past and a series of events that might happen to them in the future. For each event described, participants completed two modified Memory Characteristics Questionnaire items to assess self-reported phenomenal qualities associated with remembering and imagining, including self-perspective and degree of autonoetic awareness. Participants also completed letter, category, and ideational fluency tasks. Results indicated that participants with ASD recalled/imagined significantly fewer specific events than did comparison participants and that participants with ASD demonstrated impaired episodic memory and episodic future thinking. In line with this finding, participants with ASD were less likely than comparison participants to report taking a field (first-person) perspective and were more likely to report taking an observer (third-person) perspective during retrieval of past events (but not during simulation of future events), highlighting that they were less likely to mentally reexperience past events from their own point of view. There were no group differences in self-reported levels of autonoetic awareness or fluency task performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Improving fourth-grade students' composition skills: Effects of strategy instruction and self-regulation procedures.

Extending S. Graham and K. R. Harris's (2003) self-regulated strategy development model, this study examined whether self-regulation procedures would increase the effectiveness of a writing strategies training designed to improve 4th graders' (N = 113) composition skills. Students who were taught composition strategies in conjunction with self-regulation procedures were compared with (a) students who were taught the same strategies but received no instruction in self-regulation and (b) students who received didactic lessons in composition. Both at posttest and at maintenance (5 weeks after the instruction), strategy plus self-regulation students wrote more complete and qualitatively better stories than students in the 2 comparison conditions. They also displayed superior performance at a transfer task requiring students to recall essential parts of an orally presented story. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Note-taking and passage style.

High-formality and low-formality versions of a passage were read by 120 undergraduate education students who either took notes for a presentation to professionals or to students, or simply read the text. A free-recall test showed superiority for notetakers and for those reading low-formality text. Despite passage style and type of instruction, Ss took essentially verbatim notes, but in recall, informal material was paraphrased significantly more than formal prose. A conditional probability analysis showed that an idea unit was more likely to be recalled if it had been written in notes than if it had only been read. Results support the encoding function of note-taking and its relation to informal prose. (13 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Simian scribbles: A reappraisal of drawing in the chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes).

Three chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) were provided with 18 different stimulus pages for drawing. The resulting 618 drawings were coded for drawn marks, and results were compared with early reports on ape drawing (Morris, 1962; Schiller, 1951) and with more recent systematic studies (Smith, 1973). The findings of the present study confirm Smith's observations of a tendency for the animals to draw closer to the center and toward the bottom of the page. No evidence for perceptual balancing was observed in drawings produced on pages with lateral figures, nor was any evidence for closure apparent with complex figures. The present results agree with earlier findings that chimpanzees will engage in drawing activities without training or reinforcement, and this behavior may reflect their intrinsic interest in exploratory and manipulative play. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Implementing a B2B e-Work System to the Approval Process of Rebar Design and Estimation

In reinforced concrete construction, it is still common for rebar suppliers to accept computer-aided design (CAD) drawings and then generate new drawings for the shop floor, which ultimately are presented to the contractor as blueprints. In other cases, rebar suppliers accept hard copies of blueprints and return CAD files featuring different design layers and elements. Under this arrangement, communication between project participants is fragmented and depends solely on the direct input of the participants in a specific task. This paper proposes a business-to-business (B2B) e-Work system to improve the approval process for rebar estimation data. This system is composed of extensible markup language-based databases that support essential tasks of the approval process such as design and revision of structural drawings, bidding, shop drawing preparation, revision, and correction, and rebar delivery. The performance of the proposed system is compared with existing industry practices based on data obtained from structural designers, contractors, and rebar suppliers.